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<!--Generated by Squarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/) on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:26:29 GMT--><rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><title>Solution Selling Blog</title><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/</link><description></description><lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:26:10 +0000</lastBuildDate><copyright>©Solution Selling, Inc.</copyright><language>en-US</language><generator>Squarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)</generator><item><title>Are You Ready For 2012? A Quick Look Back At 2011.</title><category>2011</category><category>Future of sales</category><category>Solution Selling</category><category>best articles</category><category>sales training</category><category>top articles</category><dc:creator>SPI</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:00:21 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2012/1/23/are-you-ready-for-2012-a-quick-look-back-at-2011.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:14649735</guid><description><![CDATA[New to the Solution Selling Blog? Or are you a committed reader? Welcome and welcome back. At SPI we are more committed than ever to be the go-to thought-leaders of the sales performance improvement industry. We are consistently looking ahead to changes in the marketplace, trends, tools and learning methods to influence our practices and programs. We incorporate research and feedback into our decisions and work diligently to forward the knowledge and skills we pass on to our clients. So in with the new year and out with old. But… before we move forward with a wealth of new sales knowledge in 2012, let’s take a brief look back to see what mattered most to readers in 2011.
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-14649735.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Rumors of Solution Selling's Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated</title><category>Commentary</category><category>Rumor</category><category>Solution Selling</category><dc:creator>James N. Touchstone, Solution Selling® Product Mgr</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:00:40 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/11/8/rumors-of-solution-sellings-demise-have-been-greatly-exagger.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:13595290</guid><description><![CDATA[Solution Selling® has to weather the trendy selling phrases that pop up&#8230; &#8220;Provocative selling&#8221;&#8230; &#8220;Sales challenger&#8221;&#8230; &#8220;Outcome based selling&#8221;&#8230; (Insert your own trendy phrase here). The irony is that while all of those are relevant approaches, they’ve been approaches inherent in Solution Selling® for years.
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-13595290.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>What’s YOUR “Strength of Sale?”</title><category>BANT</category><category>Commentary</category><category>News</category><category>Sales Success Formula</category><category>Strength of Sale</category><category>solution centric</category><dc:creator>Robert Kear, CMO</dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:01:02 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/10/14/whats-your-strength-of-sale.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:13228419</guid><description><![CDATA[Sales organizations are not very good at objectively assessing the probabilities of winning sales opportunities. By default, they spend more that 50% of their precious selling time on opportunities that are lost to competition or to “no decision.” There’s also a subtle, deeper problem with this issue. What the research is really telling us is that sales organizations are not applying process and structure to selling on a consistent basis, so they have no real way to understand where sales “quality” problems exist, and how to address them.
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-13228419.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Exploring Impact and Growing the Sale</title><category>Commentary</category><category>SMB</category><category>diagnosing customer pain</category><category>pain</category><category>solving customer problems</category><dc:creator>Nick Maslanka</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:00:05 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/9/27/exploring-impact-and-growing-the-sale.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:12779462</guid><description><![CDATA[As sellers, we need to explore how a critical business issue flows through an organization. One person&#8217;s critical business issue can become the reason for someone else&#8217;s problem. This &#8220;pain&#8221; could be a problem, critical business issue, potential missed opportunity, or goal that anyone in the organization is trying to overcome.
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-12779462.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Do You Really Understand Your Customer's Problems?</title><category>Commentary</category><category>Solution Selling</category><category>consultative sales dialogue</category><category>increasing sales</category><category>sales pipeline</category><dc:creator>Nick Maslanka</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:00:19 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/9/12/do-you-really-understand-your-customers-problems.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:12601670</guid><description><![CDATA[I have the opportunity to speak with the sales leaders for a lot of small and medium-sized businesses. One common sales challenge I have been hearing a lot lately is that sales people are not having consultative dialogues with the customer. As a result, sales cycles become longer or win rates drop. Let me paint the picture.
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-12601670.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>From College to Account Director: Loni Bernhard</title><category>Commentary</category><category>Solution Selling</category><category>sales best practices</category><category>sales training</category><dc:creator>SPI</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:01:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/7/27/from-college-to-account-director-loni-bernhard.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:11406253</guid><description><![CDATA[Last week I interviewed a sales executive, we decided to continue the trend. This week I interviewed Loni Bernhard, Account Director at a national hotel and resort chain.
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-11406253.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>30 Years of Experience and Counting, An Interview: John Winslow</title><category>Commentary</category><category>Solution Selling</category><category>sales best practices</category><category>sales training</category><dc:creator>SPI</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:00:39 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/7/20/30-years-of-experience-and-counting-an-interview-john-winslo.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:11384731</guid><description><![CDATA[For our blog this week, I interviewed sales executive, John Winslow. John is currently the Vice President of International Sales for a billion-dollar orthopedic company. Since 1982 he&#8217;s worked in domestic and international sales for several Fortune 500 medical supply companies
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-11384731.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Selling Styles: Art or Science (A Love Story)</title><category>CRM</category><category>Commentary</category><category>improving sales</category><category>increasing sales</category><category>sales process</category><dc:creator>SPI</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:00:20 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/7/13/selling-styles-art-or-science-a-love-story.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:11738116</guid><description><![CDATA[Should Sales Reps sell via ART or SCIENCE?
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-11738116.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Column Fodder</title><category>Commentary</category><category>Solution Selling</category><category>column fodder</category><category>improving sales</category><category>increasing sales</category><category>pain</category><dc:creator>Ken Cross, Business Development Manager</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:00:51 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/6/22/column-fodder.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:11852974</guid><description><![CDATA[Welcome to the world of column fodder - whether we are talking Mexican food or $1M software applications, if you aren’t first, then you have lot to live up to.  In the world of Solution Selling®, we call this an Active Opportunity (they are already working with another vendor, but feel that they need to do their due diligence) - you may or may not realize it, but this is very likely the majority of the deals in your pipeline.
]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/rss-comments-entry-11852974.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Top 7 CRM Predictions for SMB’s in 2011</title><category>CRM</category><category>Commentary</category><category>Mobile device</category><category>ROI</category><category>SMB</category><category>Social Media</category><category>improving sales</category><dc:creator>SPI</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:00:37 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/2011/6/15/top-7-crm-predictions-for-smbs-in-2011.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">364829:3912410:11738031</guid><description><![CDATA[The seven things that I predict today’s small businesses will see-and should be looking for-in 2011 as they consider and adopt a CRM system.
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